1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to equipment for cooling the ambient environment. More specifically, the present invention concerns a high-pressure misting fan that utilizes a propeller and a pump that are driven by a universal power source to provide effective and efficient evaporative cooling with a fan that is relatively inexpensive to both manufacture and maintain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many industrial and household settings, it is desirable to cool the ambient environment to facilitate the comfort of the people located therein. It is known in the art to utilize traditional air circulators as a means of cooling the ambient enviromnent and the people located therein. However, it is often desirable to provide a degree of cooling that is not obtainable by traditional air circulators alone.
Evaporative cooling systems utilizing a fluid source in combination with a powered propeller are known in the art. For example, it is known in the art to use a powered propeller to draw an airstream through a water-soaked filter. Additionally, it is known in the art to utilize a separate, stand-alone pumping system to supply fluid to augment the cooling provided by a separate air circulator. However, these prior art cooling systems are problematic and subject to several undesirable limitations. For example, prior art evaporative cooling systems are relatively complex in configuration, rendering them relatively expensive to manufacture and maintain. Additionally, prior art evaporative cooling systems are relatively bulky, requiring undesirable amounts of storage space and/or presenting hazardous obstacles to the work environment.
The principles of the present invention provide an improved evaporative cooling system that does not suffer from the problems and limitations of the prior art cooling systems described above. The improved cooling system provides a high-pressure misting fan that utilizes a propeller and a pump that are driven by a universal power source. The inventive configuration is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain, yet provides efficient and effective evaporative cooling.
A first aspect of the present invention concerns a fan that broadly includes a rotatable propeller, a nozzle assembly, a pump, and a single motor. The propeller generates an airstream when rotated. The nozzle assembly is fluidly connectable to a fluid source and operable to inject fluid into the airstream. The pump is fluidly disposed upstream from the nozzle assembly and is operable to pressurize fluid flowing from the fluid source to the nozzle assembly. The single motor is drivingly connected to the propeller and the pump so that the single motor rotates the propeller and operates the pump.
A second aspect of the present invention concerns a fan that broadly includes a rotatable propeller, a nozzle assembly, a pump, and a motor. The propeller generates an airstream when rotated. The nozzle assembly is fluidly connectable to a fluid source and is operable to inject fluid into the airstream. The pump is fluidly disposed upstream from the nozzle assembly and is operable to pressurize fluid flowing from the fluid source to the nozzle assembly. The motor includes a rotatable drive shaft presenting first and second ends. The first end of the drive shaft is drivingly connected to the propeller and the second end of the drive shaft is drivingly connected to the pump.
A third aspect of the present invention concerns a method of injecting a fluid into the airstream generated by the propeller of a fan. The fluid injection method broadly including the steps of pressurizing the fluid with a pump, and driving the propeller and the pump by a common motor.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawing figures.